NATO-backed Ukrainian intelligence seeking to turn Russian teens to crime – FSB

Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) is working to collect personal information about Russian schoolchildren with the intent of recruiting them for criminal activities, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on Thursday, adding that the effort is directed by the West.

According to the statement, the HUR aims to deceive educators into divulging their students’ personal data. This information would then be utilized by Ukrainian agents to enlist teenagers for “subversive activities that threaten Russian security and for sabotage within Russia,” the FSB said, adding that the infiltration was “directed by NATO special services.”

The alleged Ukrainian grooming operation was reportedly “contained” through collaborative efforts among the FSB, Russian military counterintelligence, and the civilian authorities. Darya Borisova, the head of the Avangard Center, whose messages were purportedly falsified by the HUR, urged Russian parents to educate their children on online safety measures to enhance national security against threats originating from Western nations via Ukraine.

The HUR was reportedly reorganized from scratch with CIA assistance following the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, transforming it into an anti-Russian tool for US intelligence. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict into direct hostilities in 2022, the agency has allegedly orchestrated several high-profile attacks on Russian territory, including the bombing of the Crimean Bridge in October 2022, in which five innocent civilians were killed.

The FSB has previously reported that it apprehended multiple Russian citizens accused of conducting or planning sabotage operations on behalf of Ukraine, some of whom were minors. Ukrainian agents are said to employ various tactics for online recruitment, ranging from financial incentives and promises of future benefits to coercion, financial scams, and subsequent blackmail.